Utah woman finds cocaine in tampon box

Salt Lake City
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A Utah woman found cocaine inside tampons she purchased at a NPS Store in Salt Lake City. Cindy Davidson, 39, while shopping at the store bought a box of 16-count Boots tampon for $1.99, but found inside it a cellophane filled with cocaine.

ABC News reports that Davidson, in search of a bargain, purchased the tampon at the store that describes itself on its website as "a salvage and freight recovery company."

Davidson said: "On Sunday, I went to use one and inside the plastic applicator was cellophane with the cocaine wrapped in it. I didn't know it was cocaine. It was just white powder to me."

Huffington Post reports Davidson said the powdery substance was rolled up in thick cellophane and taped shut inside the cardboard applicator. She said: "It didn't look like it was tampered at all." She said the cellophane was filled with white powder and was wrapped so tight she spent five minutes struggling to open it but couldn't.

She continued: "After I examined it, I was thinking, that's so weird. Are these so old that the cotton disintegrated into powder? I thought, there's something so strange about this. Then I stopped opening because I started thinking maybe it was a terrorist attack."

Huffington Post reports she said: "I started getting nervous because I thought it might have been a terrorist attack. I called my sister first and said I was going to call the manufacturer the next day and she told me to call the police."

Davidson continued: "Hazmat came and did their test and told me they were taking the product. Later, police knocked on my door and said it was cocaine. I was floored. I really didn't know what to think."

ABC News reports Salt Lake City Police Department is investigating the find to determine whether it is an isolated case or part of a large drug smuggling scheme.

Detective Carlie Wiechman, spokesperson for the Salt Lake City Police Department, said: "It's possible, but we don't know at this point. It's so early in the investigation; it could be a onetime thing or could lead to something bigger. We have no idea the scale of this."

Wiechman added: "It's not every day we run across this. We run across different ways of packaging and distributing, but it never ceases to amaze us the different, creative ways of [dealers] trying to move drugs around."

According to Huffiington Post, the manager of the store that sold the product said the store has removed the remaining tampons and Salt Lake City police are attempting to trace back the shipment to determine whether other packages contain narcotics.

Stan Alexander, the Director of Security at the bargain store that sold the tampons said the matter was being investigated. Huffington Post reports he told KTVX-TV: “Without knowing the customer, without knowing the product specifically on this situation we just have no information to try and figure out where it came from."

ABC News reports the incident is the second scare in recent times involving tampons . In March, a woman discovered mold on tampons she purchased from a grocery store.

A police spokesperson advised that anyone who buys a product that appears to have been tampered with should call the police.